CORE RULES

THE UNMATCHED SYSTEM

Unmatched is a miniatures dueling
game featuring fighters of all kinds —
from the page to the screen to the stuff

02
of legends. Each hero has a unique deck
of cards that fits their fighting style.
You can mix and match fighters from
any Unmatched set. But remember,
in the end, there can only be one winner.

This book provides the general rules for all Unmatched

games. The main section of the rules apply to the
two‑player game, where one hero faces off against
another. Instructions for free-for-all and team play
are on pages 1 8 –1 9.

Each set comes with special rules that only apply

to those heroes. Whenever an effect contradicts
a general rule, ignore the rule and apply the effect.
 All of your characters in the battle
HEROES& are called your fighters, but your

SIDEKICKS
primary fighter is called your hero.
Heroes are represented by miniatures
that move around on the battlefield.

Your other fighters are called sidekicks. Heroes may have

multiple sidekicks, a single sidekick, or no sidekicks at all.
Sidekicks are represented by tokens that move around
on the battlefield.

Your hero has a unique character card that identifies their

special ability. This card also lists your fighters’ move value and
starting health. You also have a custom deck of action cards.

03

HOW TO PLAY
Players take turns maneuvering their fighters on the battlefield,
playing schemes, and attacking their opponent’s fighters.
To win, you must be the first to defeat your opponent’s hero,
which happens when they are reduced to zero health.
 SETUP
1 . Choose a battlefield and place it on the table.

2. Each player chooses a hero and takes the corresponding

action cards, character card, hero miniature, sidekick tokens
(if any), health dials, and any other components for their hero.

3. Each player sets their fighters’ starting health on the matching

health dials. Starting health is found on their character card.
(Note: Sidekicks with no health dial have 1 health.)

4. Each player shuffles their action cards to form a single deck

and places it face down, then draws 5 cards as their
starting hand.

04
5. Starting spaces are designated on the battlefield by a
diamond with a number on it. The younger player places
their hero in the 1 space on the battlefield. If they have
sidekicks, place them in separate spaces within the same
zone as their hero. If their hero is in a space that is part of
multiple zones, their sidekicks may be in any of those zones.
(Note: If you cannot place a sidekick because there is no
available space in your zone, you may place that sidekick
in any space.)

6. The older player places their hero in the

space on the battlefield, then places
their sidekicks, if they have them,
based on the same rules as in step 5.

7. The player whose hero is in the

1 space takes the first turn.
 THE FIELD OF BATTLE
SPACES AND ZONES
The battlefield is made up of circular spaces that the
fighters will move between. Each space can only contain
one fighter at a time.
Two spaces connected by a line are adjacent.
Adjacency is used to determine targets of melee attacks
and various card effects.
The spaces of the battlefield are divided into zones,
which are indicated by different colors. All spaces
with the same color are in the same zone (even if
they are in different parts of the battlefield).
If a space has multiple colors, it is considered to be in
each of those zones. Zones are used to determine targets
of ranged attacks and various card effects.

05
Some boards have the same battlefield on both sides.
On one side, the colored spaces are filled in with different
patterns, which can be especially helpful for players
with vision deficiencies. The other side has empty circles,
where zones are only indicated by the circle’s color.
Both sides play exactly the same.
 YOUR TURN
On your turn, you must take 2 actions; you cannot skip an action.
You may choose two different actions or the same action twice.

The possible actions are:

MANEUVER
SCHEME
ATTACK
You can have more than 7 cards in your hand during your turn.
At the end of your turn, after resolving any other effects, if you have
more than 7 cards in your hand, you must discard down to 7 cards,
placing any discarded cards in your discard pile.

06
Then, it is your opponent’s turn.

ANATOMY OF AN ACTION CARD

A overall card type: A
Attack Defense B 3
Scheme Versatile C
ANY

(attack or defense)

B attack or defense value (if any)

C banner name
D name of the card
D M O M E N TO U S
E effect when played (if any) SHIFT 2 F
F BOOST value E DURING CO
started this MBAT: If your fighter
this card’s vaturn in a different spac
G deck that the card appears in lue is 5 inst
ead.
e,
H number of copies in the deck YENNENGA
| x3

Each hero’s deck is different, though they may G H

share some cards with other heroes’ decks.
 ACTION: MANEUVER
When you take the maneuver action, you first draw the top card
of your deck, then you may move your fighters. These steps must be
performed in order.

STEP 1: DRAW A CARD (MANDATORY)

Draw the top card of your deck and add it to your hand. You must draw
a card when you take the maneuver action.
EXHAUSTION

When your deck is empty, your fighters are exhausted.

If you need to draw a card while your fighters are exhausted,

do not reshuffle your discard pile. Instead, each of your fighters

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immediately takes 2 damage for each card you cannot draw.

Each card in your deck has a

BANNER NAME

banner name that indicates which

fighters are allowed to use it. You may
not play a card if the listed fighter is
defeated. If the banner name is “ANY”,
then any of your fighters can use it.

If the banner name is for multiple

sidekicks, such as Medusa’s harpies,
choose which token is resolving the
card. (They may resolve it even if other
sidekicks of that type are defeated.)
 STEP 2: MOVE YOUR FIGHTERS (OPTIONAL)
After drawing a card for the maneuver action,
you may move your fighters.

Your character card lists your move value. During this step,
you may move each of your fighters, one at a time, a number of
spaces equal to or less than your move value. Before moving,
you may choose to BOOST your movement (see next page).

When you move a fighter, each space they move into must
be adjacent to their previous space. You may move a fighter
through spaces occupied by other friendly fighters (i.e., your
own fighters), but they must end their movement in an empty
space, (i.e., a space with no fighters). You may not move a
fighter through spaces occupied by opposing fighters.

08
You may move your fighters in the order of your choice, but
must finish each fighter’s movement before starting the next.
You are not required to move all of your fighters the same
distance as each other; you get to choose how far each of your
fighters moves. You are allowed to move a fighter zero spaces.

MOVEMENT EFFECTS
If an effect ever lets you move your opponent’s fighters, you must
respect all of the same movement rules, but from your
opponent’s perspective.

If an effect lets you “place” a fighter, do not move them normally —

simply put them in a new space. You may only place a fighter
in an empty space.
When you take the maneuver action,
BOOST
you may BOOST your movement. To do this,
discard 1 card from your hand and add that
card’s BOOST value to your move value.
Ignore any effect on the discarded card.
3

M E D U SA
Certain effects (like Medusa’s Second Shot
card) allow you to boost other things,
such as the value of an attack.

Cards that can no longer legally be played,

SECOND SHO
because the corresponding fighter or T 3
fighters have been defeated, may still
DURING CO
this attack. MBAT: You may BOOST
be discarded from your hand to boost.

09
MEDUSA
| x3

ACTION: SCHEME
When you take the scheme action, choose a scheme card
(indicated by the icon) from your hand. Declare which of your
undefeated fighters is resolving the scheme card and play it
onto the table, face up.

Resolve the card’s effect, then place

the card into your discard pile.
ANY

DISCARD PILES
1
Maintain your own discard pile. All action
cards, once played and resolved, should be FIERY EYES TH
AT SEE
and
placed in the discard pile. Keep your discard ponent’s hand
Look at an op . Put that card on
pile face up to differentiate it from your deck. choose a card their deck. You each
the bottom of SUN WUKON |
Both you and your opponent are allowed to
G x2
draw 1 card.
look through your discard pile at any time.
 MANEUVER & SCHEME EXAMPLE
Ken is playing King Arthur. Madison
is playing Medusa. It’s Ken's turn, and he

MERLIN
is low on cards and nearly surrounded
by Medusa and her harpies.

For his first action, Ken plays a scheme

card, Prophecy. After resolving its effect, 2
PROPHECY
Ken has 2 additional cards in hand and Look at the top 4 car
Add 2 of them to you ds of your deck.
decides to make a strategic retreat. other 2 back on top r hand and put the
any order. of your deck, in

|
KING ARTHUR xx1
1

For his second action, Ken maneuvers.

2 He draws a card and then chooses to

10
KING ARTHUR

boost his move with Noble Sacrifice,

which boosts King Arthur's normal
movement of 2 up to 5. Ken moves
3
3 King Arthur 4 spaces (passing through
NOBLE SACRIFICE T this his sidekick, Merlin) to a safer position.
: You may BOOS
DURING COMBATaddition to any boost from
in
attack. (This is cia l ability.) He decides not to move Merlin.
King Arthur ’s spe | x3
KING ARTHUR

3 MEDUSA

MERLIN
KING ARTHUR

2
ACTION: ATTACK
When you take the attack action, declare which of your fighters is
attacking and who the target is. You may not take the attack action
if you do not have an attack card in hand or a valid target to attack.

STEP 1: DECLARE TARGET

Any fighter may use a melee attack to target a fighter in an
adjacent space, regardless of what zone they are in. Melee fighters
(indicated by the icon on their character card) may only make
melee attacks.

Ranged fighters (indicated by the icon on their character card)

may also make ranged attacks. A ranged attack targets a fighter

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anywhere in the same zone as the attacker, regardless of adjacency.

STEP 2: CHOOSE AND REVEAL

As the attacker, choose an attack card from your hand and play it
face down in front of you; it must be a card that your attacking fighter
is allowed to use. Then, the defender may (but is not required to)
choose a defense card from their hand and play it face down in front
of them; it must be a card their defending fighter is allowed to use.

Once both players have chosen their cards, reveal them

at the same time. Then, resolve combat.

2
VERSATILE CARDS
ANY

Cards with the icon are versatile

cards. They can be used as attack
cards or defense cards. Versatile cards
also count as both attack cards and
defense cards for the purposes of other FEINT 1
game effects. IMMEDIAT
your opponELY: Cancel all effect
ent’s card. s on

|
SINBAD x3
12 COMBAT EFFECTS
Effects that resolve in combat have labels indicating when
they occur: immediately, during combat, or after combat.
Effects can be on played attack and defense cards
or elsewhere, such as a character card.

If two effects would ever appear to resolve at the same

time, the defender’s effect resolves first . If two different
effects by the same player happen at the same time,
that player determines the order they are resolved.

Even if a player’s fighter is defeated during the combat, any

effects of their played card will still resolve. Nevertheless,
some effects might not trigger (for example, if it requires
the defeated fighter to be adjacent to another fighter).
STEP 3: RESOLVE COMBAT
Combat is resolved in the following steps:
IMMEDIATELY: After cards have been revealed, resolve any
effects that occur immediately. These effects often cancel
other effects.
DURING COMBAT: Resolve any effects that occur during
combat. These effects often change the attack or defense values.
APPLY COMBAT DAMAGE: Determine the result of the
combat. The attacker deals combat damage to the defender equal
to the value of their played attack card. If the defender played a
defense card, subtract the value of their played defense card first.
For each damage that the defender takes, reduce that fighter’s
health by one, adjusting their health dial accordingly. (A defender

13
never deals combat damage to the attacker, even if their defense
value is greater than the attacker’s attack value.)
AFTER COMBAT: After the result of the combat has been
determined, resolve any card effects that occur after combat.
These effects will often move fighters, draw cards, and so forth.
CLEANUP: Place all played action cards into their discard piles.
ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: Some effects happen “after attacking.”
These are different from after combat effects and occur as the last
step after the attack is fully resolved.
 Card effects are mandatory and must be

RESOLVING
EFFECTS
resolved unless they include the word
may. If an effect says that you may do
something, you choose whether or not
to do it when you resolve the effect.

If an effect lets you do something up to a certain number,

you can choose “0”. For example, if an effect tells you to move
your fighter “up to 3 spaces”, you may move them 0 spaces,
leaving them in their current space.

When an effect refers to a card’s printed value, that means

the value on the card itself, ignoring any changes to it from
other effects.

Some effects cause you to ignore a card’s value. Ignored

values are treated as a “0” when calculating combat damage,
regardless of how and when they might be modified by

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other effects.

If any part of an effect cannot be resolved, resolve as much

of that effect as you can and ignore the rest. For example,
if an effect requires you to draw a card and your opponent
to discard a card, and your opponent has no cards to discard,
you would still draw a card.

Some effects cancel other effects. If an effect is canceled,

do not resolve it.

WINNING THE COMBAT

Some effects check to see who won the combat.

The attacker won the combat if they dealt at least one combat
damage (i.e., damage to the defender from the attack itself,
not from any effects).

The defender won the combat if they took no combat damage

from the attack itself (even if they took damage from effects).
 DEFEATING A FIGHTER
Fighters lose health by taking damage in
combat and from various effects. When one
of your fighters is reduced to zero health,
for any reason, they are defeated.

Some effects allow a fighter to recover

health. A fighter’s health cannot go above
their starting health. A defeated fighter
cannot recover health.

When a fighter is defeated, immediately remove

their miniature or token from the battlefield.

WINNING THE GAME

At the start or end of any action, if your opponent’s hero
is defeated, you win! If both heroes are defeated, the player
whose turn it is wins.
15
COMBAT EXAMPLE
3

Anna is playing Alice. Ken is playing

King Arthur. It’s Anna’s turn, and she KING ARTHUR
wants to attack King Arthur.

Alice and the Jabberwock are melee

fighters, so one of them must be
adjacent to King Arthur in order to 1
attack. Alice has a move of 2. Anna
takes the maneuver action and draws
JABBERWOCK
a card. She could boost to get Alice
adjacent, but she has an attack card
she can play for the Jabberwock.

Anna moves the Jabberwock adjacent ALICE

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to King Arthur to make a melee
attack. She decides not to move Alice.

Anna attacks King Arthur with the Ken has The Holy Grail
Jabberwock. She can’t play Looking Glass, but wants to save it
SARPEDON
a defense card, or Snicker‑Snack (it’s an for later because of its
Alice-only card, and Alice is not adjacent effect. He plays Skirmish
to King Arthur). She plays Jaws That Bite as his defense card,
as her attack card, face down. face down.

3 4 4
1
2 2
CK
WOCK
ALICE

ANY
KING ARTHUR
BERWO

UR
ALICE

BBER

KING ARTH
E JAB
THJA

4 4 3
2 2
SNI CKER-SNACK JAW S THAT BITE SKIRMIS
GLASS s:
t effectAFT won the CRIF ICETHE HOLY GRAIL H 1
LOOKING BAT: If youER COMBAThan
fferen
2 diCOM
AFTeER torany onent’s : Dea
d l 2 damage NOBLE SA You mayCOMBAT:
this
BOOST AF If mTE Arthur has 4 or
R CO
King
: Choos look at you oppone fighterard. MBAT: AFTER ostco frombat, chMBAT:, set
COMBAT combat, woctok. disc
adjacent to the DURING COhis is in adless to any bobut If u w
oose on yohis
AFTER 2 cards andalcho ose 1 cardJabforber them ditionhealth inisthnot defeated on the
th
draw covers 3 he r space ALICE |
x2
ALICE | xx11
. (T ability.) to 8. to e cox3mbat an e of the fight
attack r’s special health
King Ar thu 2 |
KING ARTspaces.
d move ers
Alice re ice in any othe th
HUR
KING ARTHUR | xx11 em up
place Al ALICE | x2

KING AR
THUR
| x3
 Anna and Ken reveal their chosen cards at the same time. There are
no immediately or during combat effects. Jaws That Bite and Skirmish
both have a value of 4, so the attack deals no combat damage.
King Arthur wins the combat (for taking no damage as the defender).

4
4

ANY
OCKK
E JABBBBERERWWOC

VS
THJA

2 SKIRMISH 1

17
JAWS THAT BITE AFTER COMBAT:
combat, choose If you won the
: Deal 2 damage
AFTER COMBAT er adjacent to the in the combat anone of the fighters
to an y on e fig ht to 2 spaces. d move them up
Jabberwock. |
ALICE x2 KING ARTHUR
| x3
3

Both cards have after

combat effects. The defender,
King Arthur, resolves
KING ARTHUR Skirmish first. Ken moves
the Jabberwock 2 spaces
away, next to Alice.

Next, Jaws That Bite

1 JABBERWOCK resolves. Because Alice
is the only fighter adjacent,
Anna must deal 2 damage
to Alice.

ALICE
2

SARPEDON
 FREE-FOR-ALL
You can play Unmatched with three or four players
playing against each other using the following rules:
1 . Choose a battlefield with four or more starting
spaces. (Some battlefields have only two starting
spaces and therefore cannot be used for
free-for-all play.)

2. On a player’s first turn of the game, they may only

attack the player whose turn is immediately after
them or a player who has already taken their turn.
For example, in a game with four players, the player
going first may not attack the player going third or
fourth, and the player going second may not attack
the player going fourth.

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3. When an effect on a combat card refers to
"your opponent", that means the other player
in the combat.

4. A player is eliminated when their hero is defeated.

Immediately remove their sidekicks from the
board, if any.

5. The winner is the last player whose hero

is not defeated!
You can play Unmatched in teams of two with

TEAM PLAY
three or four players, using the following rules:
1 . Choose a battlefield with four starting spaces.
(Some battlefields have only two starting spaces
and therefore cannot be used for team play.)
Teammates sit next to each other on the same
side of the battlefield. They may communicate
about their cards and tactics, but each player
controls their own hero and sidekicks. Your
teammate’s fighters are considered friendly
fighters. (For team play with three players, one
player will control both heroes and sidekicks
for one team.)

2. During setup, players place their heroes in alternating order:

19
First player on Team A places their hero in the space.
First player on Team B places their hero in the space.
Second player on Team A places their hero in the space.
Second player on Team B places their hero in the space.

When placing their hero, each player also places their sidekick
within the same zone, as normal.

3. During the game, players take turns in alternating order:

First player on Team A takes their turn.
First player on Team B takes their turn.
Second player on Team A takes their turn.
Second player on Team B takes their turn.

This order repeats for the rest of the game.

4. When a player’s hero is defeated, immediately remove that

hero miniature from the battlefield. That player still takes their
turns as normal, as long as their sidekick is not defeated. If all
of a player’s fighters are defeated, they are eliminated and do
not take any more turns.

5. When both heroes on one team have been defeated,

the opposing team wins!
ICON REFERENCE
This card can only be used to attack.

This card can only be used to defend against an attack.

This card can be used to attack or defend.

As an action, this card can be played for its effect.

This fighter may make ranged and melee attacks.

This fighter may only make melee attacks.

CREDITS
Unmatched is produced by Restoration Games. It was restored from Star Wars: Epic Duels,
designed by Craig Van Ness and Rob Daviau and published by Milton Bradley. Zone rules inspired by
the Pathfinding System from Tannhäuser, designed by William Grosselin and Didier Poli
and published by Fantasy Flight Games.

Game Design: Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, and Brian Neff
Graphic Design: Jason Taylor, Lindsay Daviau, Ian Reed, and Jason D. Kingsley
Illustration: Marc Aspinall, Oliver Barrett, Peter Diamond, Zoë Van Dijk, and Andrew Thompson
Board Illustration: Alexander Wells
Project Management: Suzanne Sheldon and Brian Neff
Rules Review: Julia Angotti, Ashleigh Edwards, Chad Edwards, Jason Hager, AlfieAlfie Harris,
Frank Klensch, John Leveille, Zack Lovaas, Jacob Marks, Gary McCarthy, Peter Osterweil, Ethan Ottoy,
Taylor Pochetti, Ben Stapleton, Joshua Tan Jer Yi, Michael Topjian, and Jason
Jason Viddal

Thank you to everyone who helped playtest the game! You’re all wonderful people. We mean it.

©2023 Restoration Games, LLC. The following are trademarks of Restoration Games, LLC:
Restoration Games the Restoration Games logo, Unmatched, the Unmatched logo,
the “In Battle, There Are No Equals” tagline, and all associated trade dress.
Restoration Games, LLC is located at 12717 W SUNRISE BLVD, #244, Sunrise, FL 33323.

www.restorationgames.com

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